240	MEMOIES   OF   RACHEL.
Plays of this description, however, were not within the
limits of the Theatre Fran9ais: they belonged to the jurisdic-
tion of the minor theatres, among which, for this class of per-
formances, the Vaudeville took the lead. No other theatre
made as good use of the sceptre of Momus, or applied it so
wittily and lustily on the crackbrained pates of the day.
Among the many pieces of this style suggested by late events,
two were particularly excellent of their kind: " La Propriete
c'est le Vol," and "Les Trois Parties de la Foire aux Ide"es."
Frivolous as these works may be deemed, not to mention the
powerful influence they had on public opinion would be an
omission in the history of the great effects that have resulted
from petty causes, Their light sayings and piquant epigrams
aroused the dormant good sense of the people; their witty
sarcasms gave rise to serious reflections; and as each specta-
tor retired to his home, he felt grieved and ashamed that he
should have been the dupe and the victim of so many follies.
In the mean time, the Theatre Francais, deprived of the re-
source of chanting the "Marseillaise," was reduced to its mas-
ter-pieces, the beauties of which the public had neither time
nor inclination to appreciate. The receipts were by no means
brilliant. During this year there was not one revival from
the rich old classic repertory, and but one creation that might
be called' a two-fold one, but which was as unfortunate as it
was singular, lake almost all deformities, this monstrous
conception scarcely outlived its birth.
, Criticism this year took no notice whatever of Mademoiselle
Eachel save on the occasion of this strange innovation intro-
duced to attract the notice of the public. It succeeded in
momentarily dispelling the lethargic indifference manifested
toward her, but not exactly in the way she would have chosen.
Th^re is a rock that fortunate and successful ambition sel-
dom avoids, and which eventually proves its ruin—a rock on
which celebrities of all kinds are too frequently wrecked: that
rock is the exaggeration of their own personality by the ab-
-sprption of all surrounding objects. When talent of a supe-
rior order has become so blinded by vanity that it has the
ptost utter contempt for its atmosphere, and decrees an apothe-
wn^ merits, il*is infallibly a premonitory sign of a